8/16/12 - Grand Teton NP

To get to Grand Teton National Park, we drove through Yellowstone geyser basin, past Old Faithful, then crossed the Continental Divide 3 times. 

We then drove all 8 miles of the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway.  (I have 3 pictures; trust me, you don't care!)

We drove along the shore of Jackson Lake, and I got my first glimpse of the Teton Range  (those pale shadows fading off in the distance to the left.)

We stopped at Colter Bay--Visitor Center and Marina.

When I was a little kid, my aunt and cousin took a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton. I've seen those slides a gazillion times. I always thought the Tetons were impressive mountains, so I was really looking forward to this park.  There are lots of forest fires in the area, and the smoke got worse as the day progressed.  So did the visibility.  If you'd waited over 50 years, you'd have been disappointed too.  (sigh)

Want to see more pictures of the Tetons through the smoke?  Click on this link:  Grand Teton NP

8/14-18/2012 - Yellowstone NP

My daughter Laura joined us to visit Yellowstone National Park.  We had a great time!

EVERYONE at Yellowstone takes pictures!  Line up the family on one side of the boardwalk, hand someone your camera to take a picture with the geyser (waterfall, mountain, whatever) in the background. Of course, everyone else has to wait while you do it. Sometimes I got annoyed and took pictures of them too...

Here's one of the 3 of us:

On our first visit to Yellowstone, we chanced to see:

          12 geisers steaming:  (I'm sure we saw more than 12, but I lost count.)

         

Tortoise Shell Spring and Castle Geyser



 11 springs a-flowing:

Terrace

 

Terrace at Pallette Spring

10 pools a-boiling:  (I know this is really, really hot water!  But of course, I wanted to test it...which is really, really stupid, huh?)  

  

Beryl Pool

9 mudpots glubbing:  (they really do go "glub, glub, glub"!)

8 fields of flowers:  (If you've been paying attention to the other places we've been, you knew I'd take flower pictures.)

7 flocks of geese:  (I confess I have no pictures of Canada geese.  They're such a common bird at home I didn't even think of it--however, lots of other tourists stopped whenever they saw them in the water!  Big fat things in water so shallow they had to walk instead of swim.) 

6 chipmunks begging:  (they're really cute, aren't they?)

    
5 waterfalls:  (Gibbon Falls, Upper Yellowstone Falls, Lower Yellowstone Falls, Virginia Cascade, ummm...gotta be another one somewhere!)

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

 



Gibbon Falls

4 rivers flowing:  (Madison, Gibbon, Yellowstone, Firehole--got 'em all this time!)

Firehole River



Madison River



3 bison grazing:  (Park rule:  stay 100 yards away from bears and buffalo; 25 yards away from all other critters.)

2 herds of elk:  (The elk were even farther away than the buffalo--except for this one in the trees.  You get extra points if you can actually find him.)

 

...and Old Faithful e-rup-ting hiiiigh. 

 

(Sorry.... )

 

I took way too many pictures of Yellowstone.  You can check some of them out at this link:  Yellowstone NP

 

8/7-10/12 - Glacier NP

We stayed at a campground just a mile from Glacer National Park, and went to the park three times. 

We heard there was a bear right behind our campsite the night before we got there.  I kept checking out the back window, but never saw him.  George told people I was trying to get eaten by a bear. 

Day 1:  Since we got a late start (noon, for Pete's sakes!) we didn't do a lot.  We checked out Apgar Village, then drove along the shore of Lake McDonald.  The water is clear and blue and cold! 

The water of McDonald Creek is a different shade of blue, and even colder! 

We walked across the bridge to take pictures of the falls and the creek, then climbed down under it and took more pictures. (I really like climbing around on the rocks.  George worries because he's sure I'm going to get hurt. I do trip a lot, but that's nothing new. There's a reason they called me "Grace" when I was a kid.)

 

                        

Day 2:  We got up earlier (I made a lot of noise) and took the shuttle, leaving the driving to several someone elses. 

At Avalanche Creek, we hiked the Trail of the Cedars.  Check out the size of these tree roots I'm standing next to!

There's construction on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, so it takes a while. 

 

Logan Pass is on the Continental Divide--way over a mile high at 6,646 feet.  With a gazillion other people, we hiked the Hidden Lake Overlook Trail. 

Just as we started out, there was a mountain goat right beside the pathway.  I named him Snowball.

Think GLACIER; think SNOW!  Sometimes it's across the trail.  (It was cold when I fell down.)

There were wildflowers along the way.

It was all uphill, and huffy-puffy at that elevation, but it was worth it! 

Below the lookout point, there were more mountain goats.  Some people went past the "Don't go any farther" sign to get closeup pictures.  Not terribly bright.

 

They didn't have to--there was a family of them next to the trail on the way down. 

 

Day 3:  we hiked to Avalanche Lake.  There are 4 waterfalls coming down from the glacier into the lake.  And LOTS of flowers!

 

 

 I've got more pictures of Glacier NP if you click on this link:  Glacier National Park